Ellen R. Rolfes
Ellen Rolfes Books, Inc., President
|  | As an entrepreneur, Ellen Rolfes has spent her career creating new, sustainable models of philanthropy. Her work has taken her down many paths, and her sought-after expertise has provided new directions for many non-profit and service-oriented organizations.
Through her company, Ellen Rolfes Books, she has worked for over 20 years to secure partnerships to publish community cookbooks with proceeds benefiting philanthropic causes. She is widely credited with taking this once obscure book form into New York trade publishing, which resulted in national distribution and ultimately the launch of the cookbook into a recognized new book genre.
Ellen has devoted much of her work specifically to women’s philanthropy. She is the founder of the Ole Miss Women’s Council for Philanthropy, a multi-million dollar endowed scholarship program at the University of Mississippi. This program provides recipients with mentors and leadership training to guide them into shaping a more caring and ethical society. She is currently developing creative philanthropy models for BRIDGES and the Memphis Symphony Orchestra.
Ellen is a former Executive Director of the Women’s Foundation for a Greater Memphis, a graduate of Leadership Memphis and the Leadership Academy’s Masters program. She was the first woman president of the Society of Entrepreneurs.
Description of Business:
Social architect through philanthropic programs and cause-related publishing Year Business Founded:
1994 Year Inducted:
Founding member Thoughts on Entrepreneurship: "'Entrepreneurs respect the system, but for some indefinable reason, they are internally driven to follow a vision beyond the one recognized by the system. They just see things differently…They were those kids in kindergarten who colored outside the lines...and thank goodness they did…the world is a better place because they had the imagination and courage to use those crayons to draw a different picture for everyone else." For More Information: http://www.ellenrolfes.com
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